Monday, February 18, 2013

Many years earlier, Tony Blair issued a
statement on the Irish Potato Famine 150 years ago which claimed one million
lives; a letter was read out from the Prime Minister in which he blamed
"those who governed in London" at the time for the disaster. In May
2011 The Queen offered Ireland the nearest the royal family has ever
come to an apology for Britain's
actions in the tortured relations between the two countries, in a speech at a
state banquet Dublin. In July 1995
the Queen agreed, in effect, to apologise for colonial injustices
suffered by the Maori people in New
Zealand.

David William Donald Cameron, the Prime
Minister of UK is India leading a big
business delegation, seeking a "special relationship" between the two
countries, saying it is "about the future and not the past" for which
sky is the limit. "I want Britain
and India
to have a special relationship...this is a relationship about the future, not
the past," Cameron said in his first public engagement at Mumbai.

Describing India
as one of the "great phenomena" of the century, Cameron, who is on a
three-day visit to India,
his second since assuming office in May 2010, said the enormous growth of the
country is going to make it the third largest economy by 2030.

Britishers ruled India for some decades and the
Nations have a ‘shared history’ ~ the main trouble is that both have a
different perspective of the same history that happened. There is more than the English language and
Cricket that is being shared. To some followers of Indian history, it is one of
humiliation: bloody massacres, mass arrests, the suppression of democratic
political movements and the supplanting of its indigenous cultures to create a
servile, anglicised elite, a creation of clerical force and taking out of
wealth from India to their land.

There are reports in the media that the Prime
Minister is said to be considering voicing Britain’s regret for the worst
excesses of its empire rule during his three-day visit, for outrages like the
1919 Amritsar massacre, when thousands of
peacefully protesting Indians, including women and children, were shot
dead by British troops. There are Qs
that the Nation Britain which sends its troops abroad to promote democracy once
jailed Indians who politely demanded it.

Of course David Cameron or any of the present
generation were never personally responsible for Amritsar massacre and sure none of the
present day would approve of that killing.
But there are millions of Indians who had seen the departure of British
raj and still vividly remember the cruelties of the Raj.

The vestiges of colonial rule have deep scars
with many acts committed by Britain
the name of Empire. There was the Bengal
famine during the Second World War, in which more than a million Indians were
allowed to starve to death after their rice paddies were turned over to produce
jute for sandbags. To Britain, it was
more of thriving trade and colonialism.
At this stage after centuries, any apology for the worst excesses may
not really serve the purpose but still would be appreciable, if they come. First Post reports that there could be more
to the reported apologies.

An apology for Jallianwallah Bagh and Bengal famine and Bhagat Singh is all well and good, but
does it really matter? Will it make any real difference to deals for
AugustaWestland helicopters? Now it is
more of commercial relations as there reportedly are more than 1.5 million
Indian disapora in Britain
and British Prime Minister David Cameron has arrived in Mumbai on a three-day
trade-focussed visit clouded by a corruption scandal over British-made
helicopters sold to New Delhi.
Mr Cameron's trip comes amid a raging scandal over the procurement of 12
helicopters for use by VIPs in 2010, which were bought for nearly 4,000 crores
from Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland. The British prime minister is likely to
face further questions about the contract -- the helicopters are being
manufactured in southwest Britain
-- with the Indian government keen to be seen to be acting tough on a new graft
scandal.

Indian investigators are traveling to Italy this week
as part of an inquiry into the matter. Cameron, who is accompanied by a large
business delegation, has targetted a doubling of trade with India from 11.5
billion pounds o rRs. 96,278 crore in 2010 to 23 billion pounds or Rs. 1,92,556
crore by the time he faces re-election in 2015. On his first trip to the country
in 2010 after his election, Cameron pressed the case for the part-British
Eurofighter jet, which was competing to win a $12 billion contract for 126
aircraft.

Is it a case of UK
still gaining at the expense of India
? or is there some quid-pro-quo ! The Prime Minister found time for some Cricket Mumbai's famous
Oval Maidan, a vast square where several games are played at once.The cricket-loving Prime Minister wielded the
bat against some ferocious deliveries from local youngsters who flock to the
recreation ground in the centre of the city to play.

The most appreciable part of the tour was that
of Mr Cameron later laying a wreath at
the memorial to the 16 Indian police officers who died in the terror attacks in
Mumbai in 2008. The Prime Minister bowed his head in respect before the memorial
as an honour guard played the Last Post.